Batman Is My Mr. Miyagi

By Hachette

I write mysteries. I love writing mysteries. And I also write comic books. So when I was recently at Comi-Con, someone at one of the panels asked me how comics have influenced and/or seeped into my mystery and novel writing. Indeed, one of the editors at Mulholland Books asked if the action-packed nature of comics helped develop the action and pacing I use in the novels.

So let me tell you the answer.

Yes.

Duh.

And the best part? I had no idea I was doing it.

You see, when you do your first novel, it goes out, and you hope people read it. Same with your second. But by the time you hit your third, people start looking at all the books together. It was then that the smart readers stepped forward. One e-mailed me through my website and said, “I’ve now read three of your novels. What are your issues with your father?” And later, someone else wrote about how reading my novels was like seeing the underbelly of the pacing in a comic book: short chapters and a cliff-hanger, short chapters and a cliff-hanger.

To be honest, I was surprised. But the moment I heard it, I knew it was true.
Yes, for as long as I’ve been able to read, I’ve read comic books. I love them. And every week, I’d consume these twenty-two-page adventures that always left me with a cliff-hanger. To me, that was the best part.

And that’s really how I learned to write my novels. It’s like Mr. Miyagi and the Karate Kid. You think you’re sanding the floor and waxing on and off, but all the while you’re learning a different skill. That’s how it was for me. I’d read thousands of these twenty-two-page adventures and their cliff-hangers — over and over and over again — and eventually, Mr. Miyagi style, it began to rub off. Short chapters and a cliff-hanger, short chapters and a cliff-hanger.